A proposal to increase the mandatory retirement age to 75 will be on the ballot during Pennsylvania's primary on April 26.

Update, April 21: A Pennsylvania judge ruled that even though the referendum might remain on primary ballots, votes on the measure won't count. The ruling follows the legislature's move to push the referendum to November.

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When people go to the polls on April 26 in Pennsylvania, they will not only be given the chance to vote in the Democratic or Republican presidential primary, but also to decide whether to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges to 75.

Right now, judges must retire at the end of the year when they turn 70. It’s a requirement that dates back to 1968, when the state’s most recent Constitution was adopted. All voters — including Independents and those who are not affiliated with a political party — can vote on the proposal.

Pennsylvania is one of at least 31 states that have mandatory retirement ages for judges on some level, according to the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit organization that tracks this information.

Pros: ‘70 is the new 50’

Advocates for approving the referendum note that people are living much longer, and they continue to be productive. The mandatory retirement age of 70, they argue, is arbitrary — and judges gain experience with time.

“It’s not being trite when you say 70 is the new 50,” said state Sen. Pat Vance, R- Cumberland and York counties, who supports raising the mandatory retirement age and voted to put the question to voters. “I can’t see any reason it wouldn’t be a positive.”

Pennsylvania’s Constitution essentially contains a “blanket statement” that jurists are not competent to serve once they turn 70, Common Pleas Judge Stephen P. Linebaugh said.

But former ones such as Emanuel "Mike" Cassimatis were “as competent to be a judge as anyone” in their later years, Linebaugh said. It’s unfortunate, he said, when good members of the bench have to leave in “their prime.”

Meanwhile, if the referendum is approved, that would allow Chris Menges to serve his full 10-year term on the York County Court of Common Pleas.

Menges, 64, was elected last November, and said he intends to stay as long as possible. Being a judge is a great job, he said, and it allows him to do family law.

“I love trying to look out for children,” he said.

Groups including the Pennsylvania Bar Association and Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a nonprofit watchdog organization, also support the referendum.

Cons: ‘This initiative would limit the checks and balances’

Opponents of increasing the mandatory retirement age cite the need for new voices to be added to the bench. They also say there’s no reason to change what’s already in place.

Voters only get to decide every 10 years whether to keep county judges on the bench, state Rep. Kate Klunk, R-Hanover, said. Her constituents, she said, want to make sure there are proper checks in place.

“Increasing the age, I think, cedes more additional power to the courts than they need at this time,” Klunk said, adding that the measure would allow judges to get higher payouts for pensions.

In York County, state legislators are essentially split on whether to support the referendum. But in one case, the vote was misleading. State Sen. Rich Alloway, R-Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties, voted in 2015 against putting the proposal on the ballot. He supported the measure two years before.

Alloway said, “it was all about timing,” adding that he's fully in favor of raising the retirement age.

The question would have created confusion if it had gone to the voters last November, Alloway said. If someone who was 70 won a judicial seat, it’s unclear what would have happened if voters had rejected the referendum.

To state Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York Township, the current system seems to be working.

Judges who hit the mandatory retirement age of 70 have the option to take senior status, she said. That allows them to keep serving part-time until the end of the year when they turn 78.

“The voters are going to tell us what to do,” Phillips-Hill said. “And that’s always a good thing.”

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 771-2102.

‘Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended … ? ’

Here’s the wording of the referendum that will appear on the ballot for the April 26 primary:

“Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to require that justices of the Supreme Court, judges and justices of the peace (known as magisterial district judges) be retired on the last day of the calendar year in which they attain the age of 75 years, instead of the current requirement that they be retired on the last day of the calendar year in which they attain the age of 70?”

‘It’s absolutely going to be on the April ballot’

On March 6, the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Caucus, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman filed an emergency application asking for the wording to be changed. That would have delayed sending the measure to the voters until Nov. 8.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on March 23 rejected that request, even after the administration agreed to tweak the wording.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s press secretary, Jeff Sheridan, said the question will appear on the ballot in the primary, unless the Legislature decides to take action.

Wanda Murren, the press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said the court's decision was pretty much the “final word.” She said more than $1.3 million has been spent advertising the referendum.